CV

Graduate Student Researcher

University of California, Davis

I am working on multiple projects focused on Rust security and supply chain trust modeling. Key contributions include developing Cargo-Sherlock, LHS, and advancing research on memory safety in Rust.

• Developed Cargo-Sherlock, an open-source automated reasoning tool for Rust's supply chain trust modeling.
• Created LHS, a static analysis tool for Rust MIR to identify vulnerabilities in 'safe' Rust code.
• Authored 'Counterexamples in Safe Rust,' highlighting memory safety limitations in Rust.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Technology for People Initiative Lab, LUMS

Enhanced the Digital Archives of Pakistan platform and improved its usability and feature set. The site can be accessed at https://archive.lums.edu.pk/

• Modernized features and resolved bugs in legacy code for a better user experience.
• Ensured the platform's continued role as a key repository for Pakistan’s digital history.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Internet Security and Privacy Lab, LUMS

Contributed to collaborative projects with global institutions, focusing on web privacy, security analysis, and dependency investigation.

• Applied program analysis for real-time detection of tracking code with 98% accuracy in a privacy-enhancing web refactoring project.
• Conducted an ads accessibility study, developing an ad scraper to assess accessibility for visually impaired users.
• Investigated hidden dependencies in NPM packages, analyzing their evolution and security implications.

Teaching Assistant - ECS 119

University of California, Davis

Teaching Assistant for ECS 119 (Data Processing Pipelines). Held a weekly discussion section, graded assignments, and provided office hours for students.

Course Instructor — Cohort 1 and 2

Knowledge Streams

Conducted Cyber Security training focusing on penetration testing for web/mobile applications and React development (HTML, CSS, JS, React fundamentals). Guided students through projects and prepared them for technical interviews.

Head Teaching Assistant - CS 300

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Managed two sections of the Advanced Programming course (Haskell, TypeScript, MERN stack), guiding 140 students and coordinating a team of 10 TAs. Oversaw module assignments, developed exams with tailored test cases, and provided consistent student support.

Head Teaching Assistant - CS 200

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Led two sections of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) with 170 students and a team of 12 TAs. Designed lab exercises, grading schemes, and automated the lab grading system to improve assessment efficiency.

Computer Science Instructor

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Delivered comprehensive CS instruction to 600 students in the National Outreach Program, focusing on foundational skills and preparing students for advanced academic pursuits.

Teaching Assistant - CS 100

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Served as Head TA twice for the Introduction to Computational Problem Solving course, mentoring freshmen in programming fundamentals. Led a team of 6–8 TAs, created lab assignments, and emphasized practical programming applications.

Section Volunteer

NOP Summer Camp (LUMS)

Mentored 30 high school students from underprivileged backgrounds, guiding them through academic and extracurricular activities. and conducted session on soft skills development.

Volunteer Instructor

LUMS Community Service Society

Member of LUMS Community Service Society, Bridging Barriers Department. Taught in underprivilleged schools and focused on development of soft skills.

PhD

University of California, Davis

Computer Science

• Computer and Information Security, Software Engineering, Computer Networks, Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Machine Learning & Discovery, Computer Architecture, Machine Learning

BSc

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Computer Science

• Data Structures, Algorithms, Discrete Mathematics, Operating Systems, Network Centric Computing, Software Engineering, Databases, Machine Learning, Humand Computer Interaction, Network Security

Fellowship

University of California Davis

Fellowship for PhD studies at University of California Davis.

NOP Scholarship

Lahore University of Management Sciences

Scholarship for undergraduate studies at Lahore University of Management Sciences. Considered the most prestigious scholarship in Pakistan.

Merit Scholarship for Higher Secondary School

Punjab Group of Colleges

Merit Based Scholarship for Higher Secondary School. Awarded to students for excellent performance in academics.

Counterexamples in Safe Rust

HCSE & CS (ASE'24)

Rust is often heralded as a safer alternative to C and C++, but its safety guarantees do not universally extend to third-party code—even when using safe Rust. In this paper, we present counterexamples illustrating how vulnerabilities can arise entirely within safe Rust. Complementing these examples, we provide initial experimental findings to address key questions: Can existing program analysis and verification tools identify these risks? Are these attack patterns exploitable in real-world Rust libraries? To what extent are these vulnerabilities leveraged in existing supply chain attacks? All examples and data are publicly available in an open-source GitHub repository. This work highlights the need for a more robust threat model that transcends Rust's safe/unsafe boundary, advocating for stronger defenses against attacks in practical use cases.

Assessing Local LLMs for Developer Support in Software Engineering

Under Review (MSR'25)

This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of local language models for developer support in software engineering. The goal is to understand how effective these open source models are compared to commercial models. and how they can be improved.

Cargo-Sherlock: A formal checker for supply chain trust

Under Review (PLDI'25)

An attempt to formally model the trust in supply chain ecosystem and implenting it for Rust as a case study.